The Lotterys More or Less

The Lotterys More or Less follows the Lotterys over the course of one short Christmas season. But while one might expect this to be a simple, fun, and merry tale, a massive ice storm hits the Toronto area, and the neighborhood is thrown into various amounts of chaos. But before I go into detail about the series of events that take place in the sequel to The Lotterys Plus One; (https://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/vol23/no21/thelotterysplusone.html) however, I should probably back up and remind everyone of the basic family makeup (it’s important!) “Once upon a time, a man from Delhi and a man from Yukon fell in love, and so did a woman from Jamaica and a Mohawk woman. The two couples became best friends and had a baby together. When they won the lottery, they gave up their jobs and found a big old house where their family could learn and grow…” (From The Lotterys Plus One). Now, the family consists of the four adults, seven children, Grumps—PopCorn’s father—and a number of pets. And in The Lotterys More or Less, their family also temporarily includes a Brazilian visitor named Luiz.

Donoghue’s delightful narrative style allows young readers to experience the most diverse family they’ll probably ever come across in literature—and that’s a great thing! We live in a time when people sometimes use the term “too much diversity”, and that is something Donoghue addresses head-on through the Lottery family. There are two moms and two dads, there’s Aspen, who has symptoms of ADHD, Oak, who was shaken as a child and has a learning disability. There’s Brian, one of the youngest who was assigned a female gender at birth but who feels like a boy (and yet doesn’t care about going by female pronouns.) And there’s racial diversity throughout the entire family. There’s even a three-legged dog, a rescue parrot, and a rat.

Beyond the diversity, the plot, itself, is inclusive and a celebration of human interaction and community. Even though there has been an ice storm and many in the community have lost power, the Lotterys choose to celebrate Christmas outside of the confines of their yearly traditions (much to Sumac’s chagrin), and even work to support their neighbours. Even in the midst of all of this, Luiz has managed to tear his retina and must now stay face down for five days until he has healed from his surgery.

While the first novel, The Lotterys Plus One, explores generational differences and racial biases, this follow-up examines preconceptions about cultural difference and tries to break down the ways in which each member of the family is able to approach a non-traditional Christmas season. The Muslim and Jewish neighbors each invite the family over for food when the Lotterys’ power goes out, and readers will have the opportunity to learn more about various cultural traditions during a time (Christmas) that is overwhelmingly Christian and Westernized.
Two possibly problematic issues in the text pertain to dialect and Brian’s gender presentation. As to the former, Luiz and other non-white characters engage in dialogue which denotes them as non-fluent speakers of English. This can give the impression of digressing into potentially stereotypical representation, particularly where Portuguese speaking Luiz is concerned, not to mention the Muslim and Russian individuals, among others. Though at times these “accents” do ring true, there are elements that can be seen as closer to caricature than reality. In terms of the latter, namely Brian’s declaration of being a boy, confusion could be an issue with younger readers, particularly because of the fact that the rest of the family continues to use female pronouns. If being introduced to the concept of trans or non-binary identification, this may not be the most effective.

In the end, the quirky humour, bizarre situations, and use of different languages (Portuguese, Mohawk, French, etc.) create a rich and enjoyable narrative that young readers can not only enjoy for its randomness but also for its educational content. The Lotterys More or Less is a fabulous sequel to The Lotterys Plus One and will be sure to give readers young and old much to think about and discuss.